Lions tour: No panic for Warren Gatland, who says Super Rugby teams are as good as All Blacks
Akira Ioane gets an offload away as hes tackled. Blues wing Matt Duffie is tackled in the air by Liam Williams.
Rieko Ioane goes over the line for the Blues, only to again be disallowed. Sonny Bill Williams goes over for the Blues second try.
Michael Collins contests a high ball for the Blues. Lions fullback Leigh Halfpenny kicks a penalty to give his team a late lead.
British and Irish Lions rugby fans were excited before the match. Blues wing Matt Duffie is tackled in the air by Liam Williams. Rieko Ioane makes a break for the Blues. Augustine Pulu of the Blues is tackled.
Lions captain Ken Owens looks on as his players stand behind the posts after a Blues try. Rieko Ioane goes over the line for the Blues, only to again be disallowed.
Sonny Bill Williams roars after scoring against the Lions. Rieko Ioanes expression says it all as he scores for the Blues.
Rhys Webb celebrates as Lions team-mate CJ Stander is driven over for the tourists opening try. Rieko Ioane dives over for what wouldve been his second try, but its disallowed.
Sonny Bill Williams cant hide his delight after scoring for the Blues. The Lions Courtney Lawes is tackled. Sonny Bill Williams celebrates his try in the dying stages of the first half. Sonny Bill Williams looks to find space for the Blues.
A soggy Eden Park plays host the Lions. Robbie Henshaw takes the ball forward for the Lions.
Rieko Ioane heads for the tryline to score the Blues first try. The Lions mightve been on foreign soil, but they had some support in the Auckland crowd.
Lions fans pose for the camera before the match. The Blues debuted a moving haka at the match.
Warren Gatland, the head coach of the British & Irish Lions, looked a bit grim in the rain before the match. 1 of 28 « Previous « Previous Next » Next » .
Defiant or delusional? British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland has reacted to the first defeat of the tour of New Zealand by declaring Kiwi Super Rugby sides are on a par with the All Blacks.
Maybe it was just a convenient line from a coach who had just seen his side beaten 22-16 to a moment of magic from the bottom side in the New Zealand Super Rugby conference. Or maybe he has a point.
But Gatlands response to the Blues outstanding Wednesday night victory in front of a crowd of 40,639 at Eden Park was interesting, to say the least.
By heaping such praise on Kiwi opposition across the board, he might be lessening the pressure a little on his side which now has just three days to find the improvement to knock the undefeated Crusaders off their perch.
Lions coach Warren Gatland reckons New Zealands Super Rugby sides are as good as the All Blacks.
But he might also be said to be getting his excuses in first, given that he still has the Highlanders, Chiefs and Maori to come before the first test.
If things dont start getting much better very soon, the carnage could be unprecedented.
There is so much strength in depth in this country, Gatland said after his side were pipped at the death by a special try from Blues supersub Ihaia West, following two pieces of offloading brilliance from Steven Luatua and Sonny Bill Williams.
I dont think there will be a lot of difference between some Super Rugby sides and the All Blacks. These guys have been together seven months and the All Blacks are coming together cold.
There is a massive amount of depth and strength in this country and I dont think theres a lot of difference between the teams.
Lions captain Ken Owens and his team found the Blues too hot to handle at Eden Park on Wednesday night. Hmm. The mind boggles over quite what Steve Hansen might make of that.
Gatland was surprisingly buoyant in the aftermath of what could be a destabilising defeat. Especially if it is followed in quick succession by another one.
We know the quality of New Zealand sides, and that was a big improvement from Saturday. We will continue to improve, he said.
Weve played a lot better. Weve put ourselves in a position to win the game. You can take a lot of positives from that, you can take a lot of things in your control and you can change and improve.
Lets take nothing away from the try Ihaia West scored, and the offloading of New Zealand teams. Thats only going to continue.
Weve got to be a little better at stopping the offloading game. I thought generally we did that pretty well with our line speed defensively..
Gatland termed Wests scoot home, round two defenders from a brilliant break and offload from Williams as a moment of magic which you expect from New Zealand teams.
Im happy there was an improvement, but disappointed we lost the game. The thing about playing these quality sides, [its about] the test match series and preparation.
In 2013 we won the first game against the Barbarians by 70 and the next against the Western Force by 60. It wasnt great preparation.
We would have learnt a lot from tonight, we would have learnt a lot about the opposition and we will keep improving.
And so it continued throughout his post-match press conference. Far from doom and gloom. His team is getting better. Certainly no need for panic.
Yes, there were some key misfires at the lineout (especially at the end when they overthrew from close range as they were pressing for the game-winner), and the finishing of long periods of phase play in prime scoring territory left a little to be desired.
But Gatland simply refused to get too down about a defeat against the cellar dwellers of Kiwi Super Rugby. The pleasing thing is was it was a big step up in performance, he added. I was more disappointed with Saturday night.
I thought we played pretty well and competed with a side thats got a very good record here at Eden Park. But we need to be tough on ourselves. There were a lot of penalties given away.
be tough on ourselves and tighten up that area. Oh, and that southern hemisphere chaos that had been talked about beforehand?.
Youve just got to stay alive, said Gatland, rather channelling the Bee Gees. We talked about staying alive the whole time. If we can cut down the penalties were giving away, its going to make a big difference.
But for me its that little moment. Youve got to stop that moment. Looking back at that [West] try, Courtney [Lawes] has gone low, and Luatua has got the offload away.
Then Liam Williams has gone low on Sonny Bill, and we needed to make sure we went higher in those tackles to prevent the offload situation.
Its something we need to work on because its a strength of New Zealand rugby players being able to get the ball away in tackles.
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